Cannabis Cooking: Marijuana Supper Clubs

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Nothing goes together quite as naturally as cannabis and food. With marijuana’s innate ability to turn us all into, well, pigs, it makes perfect sense to surround ourselves with a feast each time we imbibe. There’s no longer a need to use an Aperitif of the alcoholic kind: stick a cork in it, vino, pot is here.

Sinsemil.la

In the big book of cannabis, sinsemilla is a weed growing technique where only the female plant is allowed to blossom. This results in large, seedless flowers (sinsemilla is Spanish for “without seeds”). It’s also a highly potent form of marijuana.

Playing on this name is one of the first underground supper clubs to merge cannabis with fine dining. Sinsemil.la, located in New York City, offers meals with every bite carefully concocted. Marijuana is infused not to get the eater wasted, but to balance the flavors of each dish with weed’s psychoactive properties. In fact, their tagline speaks to their true purpose: Sinsemil.la isn’t about getting high – it’s about haute cuisine.

Mystery surrounds the physical location of the dinners as it depends on who’s hosting. Any interested party is required to sign up through email at the supper club’s website. They’re then contacted to discuss day and time. Beginning a meal at 4:20 in the afternoon seems obvious, but that’s a little early for anyone under 75.

There are a variety of places around the country popping up to celebrate greens with grub.

It’s not on their website (or their menu, for that matter), but it’s available to those savvy enough to ask. It’s proven popular and a little risqué, like eating off your tray when you’re in the buffet line. But it’s perfectly legal, given Colorado’s law.

Boston has a similar, not as lawful scene. Like New York, they offer an underground supper club that features staples of the area. Diners feast on cannabis-infused shrimp, biscuits, deviled eggs, and fried green tomatoes.

The Legality of Marijuana Meals

With the exception of the few states that allow recreational weed, marijuana meals are indeed illegal: fun, but felonious. In New York, for instance, holding more than eight ounces of marijuana is punishable by up to four years in jail and a 5,000 dollar fine (there’s no law that specifically designates punishment for a hash host or hostesses but it’s probably frowned upon). The medical marijuana industry in the Empire State is also among the strictest in the nation: you can’t get a license simply because you sneezed once back in the 1980s.

Because the universal laws haven’t caught up to the people’s preference, cannabis creators are forced to adapt. In other words,

Still, they exist. Just as speakeasies flourished during the 1920s when alcohol became illegal, bud blossoms behind the scene. And it’s served with a basket of bread.

How do You Get a Supper Club Invite?

If you have to ask how to get an invite to a secret marijuana meal the answer is easy: you don’t. Cannabis suppers aren’t available through ticket purchases or at the ready for anyone willing to shell out a load of cash. They’re not something you can walk into the way you can a typical steakhouse nor are they something you can make a reservation for. Not even if you do it a year in advance. Instead, you have to know someone who knows someone who knows someone; you must be part of the inner circle or friends with someone who is.

Though these meals come with a dollop of secrecy, not everyone involved is hiding under the chafer lid – many people are open to what goes on behind closed doors. Miguel Trinidad, a chef famous for his Filipino foods and a partner at two New York restaurants, is one of the men busy infusing greens into dishes of his own creation.

He doesn’t say when or where, only that he does it.

No matter who’s in charge, the purpose of introducing pot into pots and pans is to push the cultural limits – rebel for the reefer: times they are a changing. But, it’s also a way to bring out the natural and strongest flavors in foods. Wine is often used in a similar manner: we’re taught to drink white wine with things like salmon and trout and red wine with things like BBQ and steak. It’s not about getting drunk; it’s about the wine complementing the food (as a Sauvignon Blanc tells the roasted chicken that it has nice thighs).

The Benefits of Marijuana and Food

Cannabis brings out the essence of a meal if you know what you’re doing, but the perks don’t stop at your taste buds.
There are the cannabinoids and their unique benefits, naturally, but eating weed (rather than smoking it) offers other benefits too. It allows you to start slowly, have a more powerful experience, and feel effects in your entire body (instead of those just limited to the head).

And, as anyone who’s ever gone to a party knows, marijuana is conducive to socialization as well:

It relaxes us, which makes us more likely to engage in conversation, speak to people we don’t know, and find small talk not only more bearable but downright hilarious.

Want to be the funniest person in the room? Congratulations: pot says you are.

Alcohol does this too, of course. But unlike a six-pack of beer or a bottle of wine (or a six-pack of bottles of wine), alcohol induces dehydration, headaches, and the promise to never ever drink again. And it adds extra calories (for those watching their weight).

In the end – when the table’s set and ready to go – the idea of a cannabis meal is different and that’s enough to make it enticing to many. So, if you’re interested in scoring an invite to a professional meal with Mary Jane involve yourself in the industry. Maybe your cup, your plate, and your palate will runneth over at some point.

About the author: Jenn Keeler is a freelance writer and illustrator specializing in humorous lifestyle articles. She is one of the few people on earth actually using an English degree. Her heart belongs to the Denver Broncos and her husband. In that order.